Locking apparatus for vending machines or the like

ABSTRACT

A locking system for a vending machine cabinet having an inner product area door and an outer security door for closing the cabinet as a whole utilizes the latch operating handle associated with the primary lock on the outer door, which latches the outer door to the cabinet, to conceal and prevent access to the secondary lock, which latches the two doors together with a space for housing control elements confined therebetween. Partial rotation of the handle when the primary lock is unlocked, exposes the secondary lock to permit unlocking of the latter without causing unlatching of the outer door from the cabinet, thus permitting the doors to be unlocked from one another as a prelude to opening of the outer door only for access to said housing space without exposing the storage area of the cabinet to ambient temperature air as would occur upon opening of the inner door also. Release of the primary lock alone permits access to the product area but not to the housing space to prevent unauthorized access to stored coins and tampering with control elements therewithin; while release of both locks permits access to either or both said area and said space, if desired.

llited States Patent [191 Dyer et al.

LOCKING APPARATUS FOR VENDING MACHINES OR THE LIKE [111 EJMLM 1 June 26, 1973 Primary Examiner-Kenneth Downey Attorney-Schmidt, Johnson, l-lovey & Williams 5 7 ABSTRACT A locking system for a vending machine cabinet having an inner product area door and an outer security door for closing the cabinet as a whole utilizes the latch operating handle associated with the primary lock on the outer door, which latches the outer door to the cabinet, to conceal and prevent access to the secondary lock, which latches the two doors together with a space for housing control elements confined therebetween. Partial rotation of the handle when the primary lock is unlocked, exposes the secondary lock to permit unlocking of the latter without causing unlatching of the outer door from the cabinet, thus permitting the doors to be unlocked from one another as a prelude to opening of the outer door only for access to said housing space without exposing the storage area of the cabinet to ambient temperature air as would occur upon opening of the inner door also. Release of the primary lock alone permits access to the product area but not to the housing space to prevent unauthorized access to stored coins and tampering with control elements therewithin; while release of both locks permits access to either or both said area and said space, if desired.

14 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures LOCKING APPARATUS FOR VENDING MACHINES OR THE LIKE This invention relates to locking apparatus and more particularly, to a locking system having special utility in vending machine cabinets which employ an inner door for the product storage region of the cabinet and an outer door for closing the cabinet as a whole.

Many vending machines, especially those for refrigerated products, are provided with an inner insulating door for the refrigerated compartment of the cabinet, and a full-size, outer security door for the cabinet as a whole. From a design standpoint, it has been found convenient to mount machine control elements such as coinage control mechanism and product selection apparatus on the inner surface of the outer door in the housing space presented between the inner and outer doors and to provide secondary means for locking the inner and outer doors together for restricting access to coins in the changer and coin box and to protect the control equipment against tampering by personnel qualified only to replace the supply of products in the machine, as well as a primary lock for latching the outer door to the cabinet. Thus, such machines may be serviced by certain personnel to replenish the supply of products within the storage compartment by using their key to unlock the outer door from the cabinet and then swinging open both doors, while held together by the secondary locking means, to provide access to the product storage area. By providing a secondary lock which requires a different key than that for the primary lock, and which keys are furnished only to personnel authorized to handle money and/or qualified to make repairs or adjustments on the control elements, undesirable access to the equipment disposed between the inner and outer doors is prevented.

Current vending machines utilizing the doubledoor and double-lock concepts commonly employ a common T handle lock for latching the outer door to the cabinet, and a simple tumbler lock for latching the inner door to the outer door, with the keyhole for controlling the secondary tumbler lock only accessible after the outer and inner doors have been opened together to expose the inner lock keyhole.

This type of prevalent locking arrangement has several serious shortcomings including the fact that the insulated compartment is necessarily exposed to ambient temperature air each time and outer door is opened, even though it may only be desired to service the control mechanism on the inner side of the outer door. Further, the T-handle locks employed in previous commercial machines are provided with a threaded shank portion for use in applying compression to the insulating gasket on the inner door, but the amount of such compression is totally dependent upon the number of turns made on the handle. Consequently, the repeatability of a proper seal is contingent upon the ability of service personnel to make the same number of turns on the handle each time the machine is serviced, and the gasket is often left overor under-compressed. Additionally, while the conventional locking methods have proven fairly satisfactory in preventing unauthorized prying of the outer door away from the doorjamb of the cabinet in the normal direction of swinging of the outer door, increased protection has been needed to prevent pilferers from prying the door directly away from the face of the doorjamb or vice versa in a direction generally parallel to the plane of the door.

Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a highly, reliable, vandal-proof, double-door locking system for vending machine cabinets or the like which affords authorized personnel the option of either opening the doors in combination for access to the product storage area or opening the outer door of the cabinet independently of the inner door without first opening the doors in combination for access to coinage control and product selection apparatus between the doors, while limiting other personnel to access to the product storage area only.

As a corollary to the foregoing, an important aim of the invention is the provision of a lockable handle for the primary latch of the outer door which normally conceals the secondary lock interconnecting the inner and outer doors until such time as the handle is itself unlocked and rotated to reveal the secondary lock.

A further important object of the invention is the fea ture of precise draw-up capability of the outer door, which is accomplished through the provision of cam means associated with the primary latching assembly for the outer door and the cabinet.

Yet another important object of the invention is to utilize the cam means above set forth for aligning secondary latching structure within the assembly during drawing up of the outer door, such secondary structure serving to preclude unauthorized forcing of the outer door away from the doorjamb along the direction of the plane of the door.

A further object of the invention is to provide a period of dwell in such cam means when the outer door is fully closed against the cabinet to permit partial rotation of the handle to expose the secondary lock without causing unlatching of the outer door from the cabinet.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will be made clear or become apparent from the following description of an illustrative, currently preferred embodiment.

In the drawings: 1

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, front perspective view of a vending machine cabinet employing the locking system of the present invention, illustrating the structure of the system as it appears to the public when in locked condition;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, elevational view of a portion of the cabinet, the main or outer door and certain components of the locking system between the inner and outer doors, as viewed from the interior of the cabinet with portions of the cabinet and secondary latching assembly being shown in cross-section;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal view, partially in plan and partially in cross-section, of the locking system and cabinet showing the handle in an unlocked condition withdrawn from its housing;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, vertical, cross-sectional view of the locking system and cabinet taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical, cross-sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4; and

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are schematic representations of the disposition of the cam means of the primary latching assembly in various stages of latching and unlatching, as viewed from inside the cabinet.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 3, the vending machine cabinet 10 has an inner insulated door 12 which may be held closed against a seal 14 by conventional magnetic or frictional type retaining devices (not shown), and an outer security door 16 which is hinged about the same vertical axis as inner door 12 for closure against a flexible dust seal 18 on doorjamb 20. The doors 12 and 16 are releasably joined together for swinging in combination as a unit by what will be conveniently termed a secondary lock 22. The secondary lock 22 includes a tumbler unit 24 mounted on door 16 with the keyhole 26 thereof facing outwardly of door 16, a short Z-shaped crank 28 secured to tumbler unit 24 and pivotally connected to a bar 30 for shifting the latter within a slot 32 and into and out of a slot 34 in a U-shaped bracket 36 on the interior of door 16. A second U-shaped bracket 38 on door 12 is adapted to project into the mouth of bracket 36 for receiving bar 30 therebehind when the latter is in its right-most position and extending into slot 34 as shown in FIG. 2, whereby to releasably hold the doors l2 and 16 together. The enlarged size of slot 34 with respect to slot 32 permits a certain amount of swinging of the bar 30, to facilitate insertion and removal thereof into the slot 34 due to the action of crank 28.

The primary lock for the system is designated broadly by the numeral 40 and is mounted on the door 16 by means of a support member 42 having an inwardly projecting boss 44 rotatably receiving the cylindrical lock housing 46. Housing 46 loosely receives a lock cylinder 48 within the chamber thereof for shifting of cylinder 48 longitudinally of housing 46 against the action of a coil spring 50. The tumbler cartridge 52 for lock 40 is received within the cylinder 48 having the keyhole end 54 thereof facing outwardly of the door 16 for reception of a key 56. A pair of retaining key pins 58 (FIG. in the wall of housing 46 project interiorly thereof into receiving key slots 60 extending longitudinally of cylinder 48, thereby precluding rotation of cylinder 48 relative to housing 46, but permitting longitudinal movement thereof. An extensible tongue 62 associated with the tumbler cartridge 52 is operable in response to manipulation of key 56 to project through an opening 63 in cylinder 48 into and out of locking relationship with an aperture 64 (FIG. 4) in housing 46. When the tumbler 52 is unlocked, as shown in FIG. 4, the tongue is withdrawn into opening 63 to permit outward movement of cylinder 48 under the influence of spring 50. Because of the loose fit between boss 44 and housing 46, the latter is free to rotate with cylinder 48 by virtue of pins 58, while axial shifting of cylinder 48 relative to housing 46 is allowed by the slots 60. An adjusting screw 65 threaded into a transverse wall 48a of cylinder 48 provides a backstop for the tumbler cartridge 52, with access to screw 65 being provided by means of an opening 460 in the otherwise closed end of housing 46.

An offset handle 66 fixed to the outermost end ofcylinder 48 for rotating the latter has a cavity 68 on the backside thereof for completely covering the keyhole structure 26 of secondary lock 22 when the primary lock 40 is locked and the handle 66 is disposed as shown in FIG. 1. A receptacle 70, having the interior thereof recessed below the outer surface of door 16, is disposed for completely receiving the handle 66 when the latter is thus shifted inwardly toward door 16. In this manner the walls of receptacle 70 preclude rotation of handle 66 when the latter is disposed within receptacle 70 as shown in FIG. 1, and, in this position, the handle 66 is substantially flush with door 16, making unauthorized access to lock 22 virtually impossible.

The primary lock 40 operates in conjunction with a latching assembly 72 which serves to securely hold door 16 in its closing relationship with cabinet 10 against the doorjamb 20. Assembly 72 includes a generally semi-circular cam block 74 having a hub 76 which serves to mount block 74 upon the threaded end of housing 46 for rotation therewith, the block 74 being retained by nut 78 upon housing 46. The front surface 80 of block 74 facing the door 16 serves as a cam surface which bears against a mating strike 82 (FIG. 3) in the nature of a plastic pad on a bracket 84 affixed to jamb 20. The cam surface 80 includes a 90 dwell portion in which block 74 is of uniform thickness, while the remaining approximately 90 of surface 80 is gradually inclined such that the block 74 progressively increases in thickness as the dwell portion is approached. A pair of opposed shoulders 86 and 88 on hub 76 cooperate with a mating shoulder 90 on boss 44 of support member 42 to limit the extent of rotation of cam block 74, and hence handle 66, to approximately 270.

When the handle 66 and cam block 74 are fully rotated into their latching position, as shown in FIG. 3, the cam surface 80 of block 74 serves to hold door 16 against swinging of the latter away from jamb 20 in the normal direction of travel of door 16. However, an additional secondary latching means is also provided to prevent forcing of the door 16 away from jamb 20 into the opening of cabinet 10 such as by a pry bar or the like. Such secondary means includes a T-element 92 which is mounted on and projects radially outwardly from block 74 and is adapted to be received within an open-ended slot 94 presented by a bifurcated retaining yoke 96 on bracket 84. The upper regions of yoke 96 are arched corresponding to the path of travel of element 92 during rotation of the block 74 such that yoke 96 serves to guide the enlarged head 92a of element 92 into and out of latching disposition behind slot 94.

Optionally, a pair of conventional blocking bars or the like (not shown) may also be pivotally and eccentrically secured to and operated by the cam block 74 for projection into respective retainer means at the top and bottom of cabinet 10 to provide multi-point latching of door 16, if desired, without interfering with the structure or operation of this invention.

The operation of the novel locking system provided by this invention may best be described by beginning with the doors l2 and 16 in their closed conditions wherein the vending machine is ready for use. In this condition, the handle 66 is disposed within the receptacle as shown in FIG. 1, presenting little or no opportunity for vandals to gain access to either the product storage area of cabinet 10 or the mechanism between doors l2 and 16. An attendant may replenish the product supply within cabinet 10 by first inserting his key into the keyhole of primary lock 40 and rotating the key into the position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 to release the cylinder 48 and handle 66 for outward movement from housing 46 and receptacle 70, respectively, under the influence of spring 50. Handle 66 may then be grasped and rotated 270 to unlatch block 74 from strike 72 and element 92 from yoke 96. During the first 90 of travel, the dwell portion of cam surface is in engagement with strike 82 such that the compression of doors l2 and 16 against their respective seals 14 and 18 is not diminished. During this initial dwell, the optional blocking bars, if provided, should be arranged to unlatch from their retainers on the cabinet 10.

The final condition of cam block 74 after the latter has been rotated a full 270 is illustrated in FIG. 8. With the latching assembly 72 in this condition, the attendant is free to swing open the outer door 16 which, since inner door 12 has not been unlatched therefrom, correspondingly causes inner door 12 to swing in unison therewith. Thus, the attendant is provided immediate access to the product storage area for replenishing the product supply, yet all money contained in the machine and the coinage control and product selection apparatus between doors 12 and 16 is completely protected.

Once the product supply has been replenished, closure of the cabinet is reestablished by swinging the combined doors 12 and 16 into closing relationship with cabinet 10 and rotating handle 66 in the opposite direction. Once the outer door 16 is within approximately onehalf inch of jamb 20, rotation of the cam block 74 by handle 66 out of its FIG. 8 position causes the inclined portion of the cam surface 80 to engage strike 82 as shown in FIG. 7, whereupon drawing up of the door 16 is commenced. Continued rotation of cam block 74 progressively draws door 16 against jamb to compress seal 18 (similarly door 12, by virtue of engagement therewith by rubber grommets 99 on rearwardly extending flange 98 of door 16, progressively compresses seal 14), and the element 92 is correspondingly progressively brought into alignment with slot 94 of yoke 96. When the rotative position of FIG. 6 is attained, the doors 12 and 16 are completely drawn into their final closing relationship with cabinet 10 and the element 92 is now in alignment with slot 94. At this point, the dwell portion of surface 80 is encountered, which assures that during the final 90 of rotation of block 74, the element 92 will remain in proper alignment and be guided into latching disposition by the arcuate upper extremities of yoke 96. Additionally, proper alignment of the optional locking bars with their respective retainers is assured.

Once the handle 66 has been returned to its upright position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, it may be pushed into the awaiting receptacle 70, whereupon turning of key 56 again locks tongue 62 within aperture 64 to prevent withdrawal of the handle 66. It will be appreciated that the provision of cam block 74 not only serves to properly align the latching element 92 with slot 94 but also assures that the precise amount of desired compressive force against seals 14 and 18 will always be obtained as opposed to the hit-and-miss methods of the past.

In the event that service personnel require access to the mechanism disposed between doors 12 and 16, such access may be gained without opening inner door 12 which would expose the normally refrigerated product storage areas of cabinet 10 to ambient temperature air. This is accomplished by unlocking the primary lock 40 in the manner above described, and rotating handle 66 90 or less to expose the previously hidden keyhole 26 of secondary lock 22. Since the dwell portion of cam surface 80 remains in contact with strike 82 during this 90 rotation, it will be appreciated that the outer door 16 remains fully compressed against jamb 20. Use of the proper key for lock 22 then permits the crank 28 and bar 30 to be shifted to release door 12 from connection with door 16. Once such release has been attained, the handle 66 may be rotated the remaining 180 of travel, thereby unlatching door 16 and permitting swinging of the latter away from jamb 20 while the door 12 remains closed against seal 14. Thus, the coinage control and product selection apparatus, as well as the components of the locking system itself, are revealed for service without disturbing the storage area of cabinet 10.

Once the service work has been completed, door 16 may be relatched to cabinet 10 and rejoined with door 12 by a simple reversal of the above process, whereupon the vending machine is once again in condition for customer use.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that various minor modifications and substitutions of equivalents could be made from the preferred structure described for purposes of illustration without departing from the spirit and gist of the invention. Accordingly, the invention should be deemed limited only by the fair scope of the claims that follow.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a vending machine or the like having a cabinet provided with a main access opening, an interior product receiving chamber, a product access opening communicating with said chamber and spaced inwardly from said main access opening, an outer door, an inner door, and means for mounting said doors on said cabinet for independent or concurrent swinging movement thereof to and from positions for closing said main access opening and said product access opening respectively, with said doors presenting a substantially confined space therebetween adapted for housing control elements forming a part of said machine when said doors are either both closed or concurrently opened, an improved locking system comprising:

a primary latching assembly having mutually cooperable components on said outer door and said cabinet for releasably holding said outer door in closing relationship to said main access opening;

primary locking means on said outer door, accessible from the exterior of said cabinet and operably coupled with said primary latching assembly for locking the latter;

a secondary latching assembly having mutually cooperable components on said outer door and said inner door for releasably holding said doors in intercoupled relationship for concurrent opening or closing thereof while maintaining said space substantially confined therebetween; and

secondary locking means on said outer door, accessible from the exterior of said cabinet and operably coupled with said secondary latching assembly for locking the latter,

whereby said primary locking means alone may be unlocked to permit access to said product receiving chamber without permitting access to said space, or both of said locking means may be unlocked either to permit access to said space without opening said inner door or to permit access to both said chamber and said space.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein is provided means operably coupled with said primary locking means for precluding access to said secondary locking means until said primary locking means is unlocked.

3. The invention of claim 2, wherein said precluding means includes an operating handle shiftably mounted on said outer door, said handle being operably coupled with said primary latching assembly for operating the latter and operably coupled with said primary locking means for releasably holding of said handle in a position obstructing operative access to said secondary locking means while said primary locking means is locked.

4. The invention of claim 3, wherein said handle is mounted on said outer door for both reciprocal and rotative movement relative to the latter.

5. The invention of claim 4, wherein said handle is releasably held by said primary locking means against reciprocation of said handle away from a normal, innermost reciprocated position thereof, and there is provided means for blocking rotation of said handle while the latter is in said normal position thereof.

6. The invention of claim 5, wherein said handle blocking means includes a receptacle for the handle recessed into said outer door.

7. The invention of claim 6, wherein said primary locking means is operative, when unlocked, to permit reciprocation of said handle outwardly out of said receptacle for then further permitting rotation of said handle to operate said primary latching assembly.

8. The invention of claim 1, wherein said components of said primary latching assembly include shiftable cam means on the outer door movable between latching and unlatching positions, and mating strike means on the cabinet disposed for engagement with the cam means during movement of the latter toward its latching position, said cam means being operable during said movement to progressively draw the outer door into closing relationship with said main access opening of the cabinet.

9. The invention of claim 8, wherein said components of said primary latching assembly further include a ham dle operably coupled with said cam means for shifting the latter into engagement with said strike means.

10. The invention of claim 9, wherein said handle and said cam means are rotatable.

11. The invention of claim 10, wherein said cam means is provided with a dwell portion permitting rotation of said handle to an intermediate disposition exposing said secondary locking means without said cam means clearing said strike means to unlatch the outer door from the cabinet.

12. The invention of claim 1, wherein said components of said primary latching assembly include strike means on the cabinet, cam means rotatably mounted on the outer door for movement between latching and unlatching positions and engageable with the strike means for progressively drawing the outer door into closing relationship with said main access opening as the cam means is moved toward its latching position, a handle on the door operably coupled with said cam means for moving the latter, a secondary latching element mounted on said cam means for rotation with the latter, and retainer means mounted on the cabinet in disposition for receiving and retaining said element when said cam means is moved into its latching position.

13. The invention of claim 12, wherein said retainer means is provided with an open-ended slot, and said element is generally T-shaped and has a shank portion receivable within said slot and an enlarged head portion disposed behind said retainer means when said cam means is in its latching position.

14. The invention of claim 13, wherein said latching element extends radially from said cam means, said retainer means is disposed radially from said cam means, said strike means is disposed laterally from said cam means when the latter is in its latching position, and said cam means is provided with a lateral cam surface for engaging said strike means. 

1. In a vending machine or the like having a cabinet provided with a main access opening, an interior product receiving chamber, a product access opening communicating with said chamber and spaced inwardly from said main access opening, an outer door, an inner door, and means for mounting said doors on said cabinet for independent or concurrent swinging movement thereof to and from positions for closing said main access opening and said product access opening respectively, with said doors presenting a substantially confined space therebetween adapted for housing control elements forming a part of said machine when said doors are either both closed or concurrently opened, an improved locking system comprising: a primary latching assembly having mutually cooperable components on said outer door and said cabinet for releasably holding said outer door in closing relationship to said main access opening; primary locking means on said outer door, accessible from the exterior of said cabinet and operably coupled with said primary latching assembly for locking the latter; a secondary latching assembly having mutually cooperable components on said outer door and said inner door for releasably holding said doors in intercoupled relationship for concurrent opening or closing thereof while maintaining said space substantially confined therebetween; and secondary locking means on said outer door, accessible from the exterior of said cabinet and operably coupled with said secondary latching assembly for locking the latter, whereby said primary locking means alone may be unlocked to permit access to said product receiving chamber without permitting access to said space, or both of said locking means may be unlocked either to permit access to said space without opening said inner door or to permit access to both said chamber and said space.
 2. The invention of claim 1, wherein is provided means operably coupled with said primary locking means for precluding access to said secondary locking means until said primary locking means is unlocked.
 3. The invention of claim 2, wherein said precluding means includes an operating handle shiftably mounted on said outer door, said handle being operably coupled with said primary latching assembly for operating the latter and operably coupled with said primary locking means for releasably holding of said handle in a position obstructing operative access to said secondary locking means while said primary locking means is locked.
 4. The invention of claim 3, wherein said handle is mounted on said outer door for both reciprocal and rotative movement relative to the latter.
 5. The invention of claim 4, wherein said handle is releasably held by said primary locking means against reciprocation of said handle away from a normal, innermost reciprocated position thereof, and there is provided means for blocking rotation of said handle while the latter is in said normal position thereof.
 6. The invention of claim 5, wherein said handle blocking means includes a receptacle for the handle recessed into said outer door.
 7. The invention of claim 6, wherein said primary locking means is operative, when unlocked, to permit reciprocation of said handle outwardly out of said receptacle for then further permitting rotation of said handle to operate said primary latching assembly.
 8. The invention of claim 1, wherein said components of said primary latching assembly include shiftable cam means on the outer door movable between latching and unlatching positions, and mating strike means on the cabinet disposed for engagement with the cam means during movement of the latter toward its latching position, said cam means being operable during said movement to progressively draw the outer door into closing relationship with said main access opening of the cabinet.
 9. The invention of claim 8, wherein said components of said primary latching assembly further include a handle operably coupled with said cam means for shifting the latter into engagement with said strike means.
 10. The invention of claim 9, wherein said handle and said cam means are rotatable.
 11. The invention of claim 10, wherein said cam means is provided with a dwell portion permitting rotation of said handle to an intermediate disposition exposing said secondary locking means without said cam means clearing said strike means to unlatch the outer door from the cabinet.
 12. The invention of claim 1, wherein said components of said primary latching assembly include strike means on the cabinet, cam means rotatably mounted on the outer door for movement between latching and unlatching positions and engageable with the strike means for progressively drawing the outer door into closing relationship with said main access opening as the cam means is moved toward its latching position, a handle on the door operably coupled with said cam means for moving the latter, a secondary latching element mounted on said cam means for rotation with the latter, and retainer means mounted on the cabinet in disposition for receiving and retaining said element when said cam means is moved into its latching position.
 13. The invention of claim 12, wherein said retainer means is provided with an open-ended slot, and said element is generally T-shaped and has a shank portion receivable within said slot and an enlarged head portion disposed behind said retainer means when said cam means is in its latching position.
 14. The invention of claim 13, wherein said latching element extends radially from said cam means, said retainer means is disposed radially from said cam means, said strike means is disposed laterally from said cam means when the latter is in its latching position, and said cam means is provided with a lateral cam surface for engaging said strike means. 